Operation management system

ABSTRACT

Operational administration system enabling reduction in expense burden on user, and permitting manufacturer to comprehend accurately and timely operational status of machine tools on user end. Operational administration system ( 1 ) includes, interconnected via Internet ( 5 ): manufacturer-end administration device ( 20 ); operational data storage/transmission devices ( 10 ) connected to numerical controllers for NC machine tools ( 15 ); and user-end terminal device ( 30 ). The operational data storage/transmission devices ( 10 ) gather from the numerical controllers data pertaining to the operational status of the NC machine tools ( 15 ), store the data and, when specified transmission conditions are met, send the stored operational status data to administration device ( 20 ) in an e-mail data format. With the received operational status data, administration device ( 20 ) updates operational status data it stores, and sends to terminal device ( 30 ), in response to a request therefrom, machine-tool operational status data identified by user ID information appropriately input through terminal device ( 30 ).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to operation administration systemsfurnished with one or more operational data storage/transmission devicesconnected to numerical controllers for machine tools each being equippedwith a numerical controller, a terminal device provided where users usethe machine tools, and an administration device provided formanufacturers who manufacture the machine tools, with the administrationdevice, the operational data storage/transmission devices, and theterminal device being provided to enable connection to one another viathe Internet.

BACKGROUND ART

Administration of the operation of NC machine tools is conventionallyperformed by machine-tool using users individually each using anoperational administration system set up on the user's end. Suchoperational administration systems are set up by interconnecting thenumerical controllers for a plurality of NC machine tools with anadministration device via a LAN, the Internet or other telecommunicationlines, wherein the administration device gathers and stores datapertaining to the operational status of each NC machine tool, and thusthe operational status of each NC machine tool is centrallyadministrated based on the operational status data gathered and stored.

However, in order to carry out the operational administration withprecision, vast amounts of data must be gathered accurately and quickly,and the gathered data must be reliably stored over the long term.Accordingly, this requires a high-performance administration deviceequipped with high-speed processors, high-capacity storage devices, andoutage-free power supplies to handle power-outage occurrences.

In addition, in cases in which an administration device and numericalcontrollers are interconnected via the Internet, or in cases in whichappropriate terminal devices and an administration device can beinterconnected via the Internet so that operational status data can beobtained even outside of the plant where the operational administrationsystem is set up, security devices for handling unauthorized access andcomputer viruses are required.

For this reason, it can be expensive for a user to set up such anoperational administration system, and for the user the burden of doingcan be heavy.

On the other hand, if the operational status of machine tools at theusers' could be comprehended on the manufacturer's end in a timelymanner, then an idea of maintenance schedules for, and the duty statusof, the applicable NC machine tools could be had from the comprehendedoperational status, making it possible to perform such maintenanceservices as urging the preventative replacement of parts, or readying inadvance parts required for replacement, thus contributing to improvedcustomer service for the users.

In addition, since the operational status of each machine tool isdifficult to grasp readily on the basis of raw data within the gatheredand stored operational-status data, an informational report in which theraw data is compiled in a given format (table, chart, etc.) isordinarily created, making it so that the operational status of eachmachine tool may be understood from the created informational report;yet making it so that on the manufacturer's end such informationalreports are automatically generated and distributed to the usersconcerned would be efficient in saving each user the trouble ofpreparing the informational reports.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

An object of the present invention, which came about taking intoconsideration the circumstances discussed above, is to provide anoperational administration system that can lessen the expense and burdenon the user end, and also permit the manufacturer to determine theoperational status of machine tools on the user side in an accurate andtimely manner, as well as allow users to easily obtain an informationalreport that summarizes the operational status.

In order to achieve the object described above, the present inventionhas to do with an operational administration system furnished with oneor more operational data storage/transmission devices connected to eachof numerical controllers for one or more machine tools furnished withthe numerical controllers, a terminal device provided where users usethe machine tools, and an administration device provided where amanufacturer manufactures the machine tools, said administration device,said operational data storage/transmission devices, and said terminaldevice being provided to enable connection to one another via theInternet; wherein:

said operational data storage/transmission devices comprise

-   -   operational data storage means for storing data pertaining to        operational status of the machine tools, and    -   data gathering/transmission means for gathering from the        numerical controllers data pertaining to the operational status        of the machine tools, storing the data in said operational data        storage means, and for checking whether a preset transmission        condition is met, and only in instances in which the        transmission condition is met, sending to said administration        device in an e-mail data format the machine-tool operational        status data stored in said operational data storage means; and

said administration device comprises

-   -   a database for storing machine-tool operational status data        received from the operational data storage/transmission devices,    -   data receiving/updating means for receiving machine-tool        operational status data sent from said operational data        storage/transmission devices, and respectively updating, with        the operational status data received, the database-stored        operational status data on each machine tool,    -   ID data storage means for storing user ID information        preestablished for each of the users in order to identify the        users, correlatively with machine tool data for identifying the        machine tools used by the users, and

data transmission means, being a processor for transmitting to theterminal device operational status data stored in said database, forreceiving user ID information entered through said terminal device, andfor searching said ID data storage means based on the received user-IDinformation, checking whether the received user-ID information is storedin said ID data storage means, and only in instances in which thereceived user-ID information is stored, sending, in response to requestsfrom said terminal device, to the requesting terminal device theoperational status data for the machine tools identified by the machinetool data stored in said ID data storage means correlatively with thereceived user-ID information.

By means of this invention, first the data gathering/transmission meansof each of the operational data storage/transmission devices gathers,from the numerical controller of each machine tool, data (operationalstatus data) pertaining to its operational status and then these dataare stored in the operational data storage means.

Note that the operational status may be determined from, for example,fields pertaining to cumulative time such as the cumulative power-ontime, cumulative operating time, cumulative alarm sounding time or thelike, along with fields pertaining to the state of the machine tool suchas “operating,” “halted,” “alarm sounding” or the like. In addition, theoperational status data may comprise time data corresponding to thefield in question or state data (e.g., 0 or 1), and the correspondingfield and data are associated with each other when stored in theoperational data storage means.

Moreover, checks as to whether or not predetermined transmissionconditions are met are performed continuously, and only in the case thatthese transmission conditions are met will the operational status datafor each machine tool stored in the operational data storage means besent to the administration device in the data format of e-mail.

The operational status data thus sent is received by the datareceiving/updating means, which updates the operational status data foreach machine tool stored in the database using the operational statusdata thus received.

In this manner, the operational status data for the machine tools usedby each user are sent from each operational data storage/transmissiondevice to the administration device provided on the side of themanufacturer and stored therein. Thereby, the manufacturer is able todetermine the operational status of each of the machine tools of each ofthe users based on the operational status data for each machine toolstored in the database.

On the other hand, the operational status data for each machine toolthat is sent to the administration device and stored may be obtained bythe user of each machine tool in the following manner. That is to say,the user first uses the terminal device to access the administrationdevice and enters user ID information from this terminal device, andthen this is received by the data transmission means, which searches forthe ID data storage means based on the user ID information thusreceived, and performs a check to determine whether or not the user IDinformation thus entered is stored in the ID data storage means.

Then, only if this user ID information is present will the machine toolbeing used by that user be identified from the machine tool data that isstored such that it is associated with this user ID information, and sothe operational status data stored in the database for the identifiedmachine tool will be sent to a terminal device in response to a requestfrom that terminal device.

Moreover, the operational status data received by the terminal devicemay be displayed on a screen of a CRT or other display device installedin that terminal device, or may be output from a printer or otherprinting device similarly attached to the terminal device as aperipheral. In this manner, each user can get operational status datafor their machine tools from the administration device and determinetheir operational status, and thus perform operational administrationfor the various machine tools based on the operational status thusdetermined.

Note that user ID information that is set in advance for each individualuser and that identifies that user is stored in advance in the ID datastorage means, in a manner such that it is associated with machine tooldata that identifies the machine tools used by that user. Examples ofthis user ID information may include a user ID and password or the like.

Thus, with the operational administration system according to thepresent invention, the user can access the administration device fromtheir terminal device as necessary to obtain operational status datafrom this administration device, or namely the centralizedadministration of the operational status of each machine tool ispossible through operational status data obtained from theadministration device, so it is not necessary for each user to havetheir own proprietary administration device, and thus the user's burdenof the cost required to construct an operational administration systemcan be greatly reduced in comparison to the past, and also the labor andcosts required for its administration can be reduced.

In addition, the user is able to access the administration device easilyvia the Internet from anywhere and obtain operational status data fromthe administration device. In addition, operational status data can beobtained from the administration device to determine even theoperational status of machine tools installed in factories in remoteareas including overseas, so supervision can be performed easily by theheadquarters or other administrating departments.

On the other hand, the manufacturer can determine the operational statusof each of the machine tools of each user in an accurate and timelymanner based on the operational status data stored in the administrationdevice, so the manufacturer is able to use the operational status thusdetermined to establish maintenance schedules for the machine tools anddetermine the situation of the loads thereon, so the manufacturer isable to provide such maintenance services as suggesting the preventativereplacement of parts, or getting the parts required for replacementready in advance, and thus improve customer service with respect to theusers.

In addition, the configuration is such that when a user obtainsoperational status data from the administration device, the user IDinformation is checked and the operational status of only those machinetools corresponding to the ID information can be obtained, so it ispossible to prevent the operational status of the machine tools frombeing leaked to third parties other than the user.

In addition, the system has flexibility in that the operational statusdata gathered and stored by the operational data storage/transmissiondevice can be sent from the operational data storage/transmission deviceto the administration device by merely specifying the destinationaddress to which it is to be sent, regardless of where the sendingoperational data storage/transmission device and the destinationadministration device are installed, and moreover data with no time gapscan be sent to the administration device side.

The data gathering/transmission means and data receiving/updating meansmay have the following configuration instead of the configurationdescribed above. That is to say, the data gathering/transmission meansmay be configured so as to: gather from the numerical controllers datapertaining to the operational status of the machine tools, store thedata in said operational data storage means, and to check whether apreset transmission condition is met, and only in instances in which thetransmission condition is met, based on the machine-tool operationalstatus data stored in the operational data storage means, generatetransmission data of a structure in which data element identifiersdefining items involving the operational status of the machine tools arecorrelated with the operational status data corresponding to the items,and send to said administration device the generated transmission data;and the data receiving/updating means may be configured so as to:receive the transmission data sent from said operational datastorage/transmission devices, and to analyze the data elementidentifiers in the received transmission data, recognize the itemsinvolving the machine-tool operational statuses defined by the dataelement identifiers, and respectively update, with the operationalstatus data received, the operational status data, being database-storeddata on each machine tool, corresponding to the recognized items.

Thus, in the same manner as above, first the data gathering/transmissionmeans gathers, from the numerical controller of each machine tool, datapertaining to its operational status and then these data are stored inthe operational data storage means.

Moreover, checks as to whether or not predetermined transmissionconditions are met are performed continuously, and only in the case thatthese transmission conditions are met will the operational status datafor each machine tool stored in the operational data storage means besent to the administration device.

Namely, first the operational status data for each machine tool isorganized into transmission data of a structure wherein data elementidentifiers that define fields pertaining to the operational status ofeach of the machine tools are associated with the operational statusdata corresponding to that field. A data element ID refers to aso-called tag and the fields pertaining to the operational status aredefined by these tags. Thus, the operational status data may beorganized into transmission data of a structure such that the data iswritten between pairs of tags, and thus the fields pertaining to theoperational status are associated with the operational status data. Thetransmission data thus generated is then sent to the administrationdevice.

The transmission data thus sent is received by the datareceiving/updating means, which analyzes those data element identifiers,recognizes the fields pertaining to the operational status of each ofthe machine tools that are defined by these data element identifiers,and uses the received operational status data to update operationalstatus data corresponding to the respective fields that are recognizedas data for various machine tools that is present in the database.

In this manner, the transmission data sent from the operational datastorage/transmission device has a structure such that the fieldspertaining to the operational status of each machine tool are mutuallyassociated with the operational status data, so the operational statusdata corresponding to the operational status fields can be readilydiscerned, and thus the data updating described above can be performedaccurately. In addition, the fields for which data is to be stored canbe easily added and changed.

In addition, the data gathering/transmission means may also have aconfiguration such that it connects to the Internet and sends theoperational status data only at the time of sending the operationalstatus data stored in the operational data storage means, and after thetransmission is complete, disconnects from the Internet.

If this is done, then the operational data storage/transmission deviceconnects to the Internet only when sending operational status data, sosafety with respect to unauthorized access and computer viruses can begreatly improved.

Note that the aforementioned transmission condition may be a conditionset with respect to the amount of data stored in the operational datastorage means, and in this case, the data gathering/transmission meansmay have a configuration wherein, the amount of data stored in theoperational data storage means is used as the transmission condition, sothe amount of data stored is compared against a reference amount ofdata, and the operational status data stored in the operational datastorage means is sent to the administration device when the amount ofdata stored reaches the reference amount of data.

Alternately, the aforementioned transmission condition may be acondition set with respect to the time taken to gather data, and in thiscase, the data gathering/transmission means may have a configurationwherein, the time taken to gather data is used as the transmissioncondition, so the time taken to gather data is compared against areference amount of time, and the operational status data stored in theoperational data storage means is sent to the administration device whenthe data gathering time exceeds the reference amount of time.

In this way, the operational status data stored in the operational datastorage means can be sent to the administration device at appropriatetimes, so it is possible to prevent data that should be stored in theoperational data storage means from being discarded due to an overflowof its capacity, and thus this operational status data can be made moreaccurate.

In addition, in the aforementioned operational administration system,the administration device may comprise, in lieu of the ID data storagemeans and data transmission means, an informational-reportgeneration/transmission means that, based on the operation situationdata stored in the database, regularly or irregularly generatesinformational reports that summarize the operational status of thevarious machine tools within a predetermined time period, and sends thegenerated informational reports to the terminal device, and the terminaldevice receives the informational reports sent from the administrationdevice and stores the received informational reports.

In this way, informational reports that summarize the operational statusof the various machine tools, which may be listings that present thealarm log or operating log of the various machine tools, graphs thatpresent the operational statuses of the various machine tools, or Paretocharts illustrating the frequency that various alarms sound aregenerated by the informational-report generation/transmission means andsent to the terminal device.

The informational reports thus sent are received and stored by theterminal device, and may be displayed on a CRT screen or other displaydevice installed in that terminal device, or may be output from aprinter or other printing device similarly attached to the terminaldevice as a peripheral.

Thereby, each user can determine the operational status of each machinetool based on the informational reports that are automatically compiledand sent by the administration device, and can administrate thisinformation centrally, so the same meritorious effects as above can beobtained. In addition, in order to determine the operational status foreach machine tool, there is no need for the users themselves to createinformational reports as is conventionally required, so this is moreefficient.

In addition, the informational-report generation/transmission means mayalso be constituted such that it sends the generated informationalreports to the terminal devices as an e-mail attachment, and if this isdone, informational reports compiled by the administration device can besent from the administration device to the terminal devices by merelyspecifying the destination addresses to which they are to be sent,regardless of where the sending administration device and thedestination terminal devices are installed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram presenting a configurational outline of anoperational administration system according to a first embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram presenting a configurational outline of an NCmachine tool and an operational data storage/transmission deviceinvolving this embodiment; and

FIG. 3 is a block diagram presenting a configurational outline of an NCmachine tool and an operational data storage/transmission deviceaccording to this embodiment.

In addition, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram representing the structureof data stored in an operational data storage unit according to thisembodiment;

FIGS. 5 through 11 are flowcharts illustrating processing procedures ina data editing/transmission processor of this embodiment;

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the automaticgeneration of e-mail in this embodiment; and

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for illustrating one example of e-mailin this embodiment.

In addition, FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedurein an e-mail-receiving/data-updating processor in this embodiment;

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram representing the structure of datastored in an ID data storage unit involving this embodiment; and

FIGS. 16 through 19 are explanatory diagrams illustrating singleexamples of Web pages generated by the registering/browsing processorinvolving this embodiment.

In addition, FIG. 20 is a block diagram presenting a configurationaloutline of an administration device involving another embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure in aninformational report generation/transmission processor involving theother embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Here follows a description of preferred embodiments of the presentinvention made with reference to the appended drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, an operational administration system 1 in thepresent embodiment comprises: a plurality of operational datastorage/transmission devices 10 each connected to one of a plurality ofNC machine tools 15, an administration device 20 provided on the side ofthe manufacturer who manufactures the NC machine tools 15 and a terminaldevice 30 provided on the side of a user who uses the NC machine tools15, where the operational data storage/transmission devices 10,administration device 20 and terminal device 30 are interconnected viathe Internet 5.

Note that the administration device 20 functions as a file server thatreceives and stores data sent from the operational datastorage/transmission devices 10, and also as a WWW server and otherwiseas an Internet server and as a server provided with CGI script. On theother hand, the terminal device 30 functions as a client provided with abrowser. Here follows a detailed description of the various components.

A. Operational Data Storage and Transmission Device

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, each operational datastorage/transmission device 10 comprises a data gathering/transmissionprocessor 11 and an operational data storage unit 12, and is connectedon a one-to-one basis to an NC device 16 of the NC machine tool 15, andalso is connected to the Internet 5 via a LAN 6 and router 13. Note thatthe NC device 16 is provided with a numerical controller 17, and the NCmachine tool 15 is provided with machinery 18 that is controlled by thisnumerical controller 17.

The operational data storage unit 12 is a functional unit that storesdata pertaining to the operational status of the NC machine tools 15(operational status data), which is gathered by the datagathering/transmission processor 11; more specifically the unit isprovided with data tables for items including, as shown in FIG. 4,“Operating State A,” “Operating State B,” “Operating State C,”“Machining Results,” and “Alarm Log,” wherein the unit storesoperational status data corresponding to these items.

Note that in FIG. 4, “Machine Status” is expressed by one of threestatuses: “running,” which is a state in which the machinery 18 is beingdriven; “halted,” which is a state in which the machinery 18 is notbeing driven; and “alarm sounding,” being a warning state. The“cumulative operating time” is the cumulative amount of time duringwhich the “running” state continues.

The data gathering/transmission processor 11 is a processor that gathersoperational status data for the NC machine tools 15 from the numericalcontroller 17 of the NC device 16, stores it in the operational datastorage unit 12, and, based on the operational status data stored in theoperational data storage unit 12, generates transmission data of astructure wherein data element identifiers (tags) that define fieldspertaining to the operational status are associated with the operationalstatus data corresponding to that field, and sends the transmission datathus generated to the administration device 20. Specifically, theprocessor is constituted so as to execute the processing illustrated inFIGS. 5 through 11.

Here follows a description of the processing performed by this datagathering/transmission processor 11 based on FIGS. 5–11 in sequence.

As shown in FIG. 5, after the main power supply for the NC machine tools15 is turned ON, the data gathering/transmission processor 11 starts theprocess of acquiring operational status data pertaining to that NCmachine tool 15 (Step S1), and first initializes the operational datastorage unit 12 and also turns OFF an e-mail send flag and mail sendfailure flag (Step S2).

Next, after checking if it is the first time to get data after power-on(Step S3), control advances to Step S7 (described later) if it is thefirst time to get data, but if it is the second or subsequent time toget data, the process of calculating the cumulative times in OperatingState A shown in FIG. 4 and storing them in the operational data storageunit 12 is performed (Step S4).

As shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the process of calculating and storingthe cumulative times in Operating State A is performed (Step S31) bytaking the cumulative power-on time stored in the operational datastorage unit 12 and adding the sampling interval time (time found bysubtracting the time when the previous sampling was performed from thetime when the current sampling was performed), then checking the NCmachine tool 15 for various status conditions, and if one of thesestatus conditions applies, performing the process of adding the samplinginterval time to the cumulative times stored in the operational datastorage unit 12.

Specifically, a check as to whether or not the NC machine tool 15 isoperating is performed (Step S32), and if operating, the samplinginterval time is added to the cumulative operating time (Step S33), andthen a check as to whether or not an alarm is sounding is performed(Step S34), and if an alarm is sounding, the sampling interval time isadded to the cumulative alarm sounding time (Step S35), and next a checkas to whether or not the NC machine tool 15 is cutting is performed(Step S36), and if it is cutting, the sampling interval time is added tothe cumulative cutting time (Step S37).

In addition, a check as to whether or not the spindle of the NC machinetool 15 is rotating is performed (Step S38), and if rotating, thesampling interval time is added to the cumulative spindle rotating time(Step S39), and then a check as to whether or not the NC machine tool 15is in manual mode is performed (Step S40), and if in manual mode, thesampling interval time is added to the cumulative manual mode time (StepS41), and next a check as to whether or not the NC machine tool 15 isspraying coolant is performed (Step S42), and if it is spraying coolant,the sampling interval time is added to the cumulative coolant sprayingtime (Step S43).

Then, once the process of calculating and storing the cumulative timesis complete, control returns to the main process shown in FIG. 5 andadvances to Step S5.

In Step S5, a determination is made as to whether or not the cumulativepower-on time stored in the operational data storage unit 12 hasexceeded a preset e-mail send interval. This e-mail send interval is theinterval between the time when the previous e-mail was sent and the timewhen the next e-mail is to be sent and can be set as suitable inadvance. If this e-mail send interval has been exceeded, the e-mail sendflag is set to ON (Step S6), but if the e-mail send interval has notbeen exceeded, control advances to Step S7.

In this case, the determination of whether or not to send e-mail is madebased on the e-mail send interval instead of the amount of data (to bedescribed later), and this is done when the amount of data acquired atone time is small. In this case, due to the content of machining, itwould take a long time for the amount of data stored in the operationaldata storage unit 12 to reach the amount set as the transmissioncriterion, so the updating of data on the administration device 20 sidewould not be performed for a long time.

Next, in Step S7, the process of acquiring data pertaining to OperatingState C shown in FIG. 4 from the numerical controller 17 and storing itin the operational data storage unit 12 is performed. As describedabove, Operating State C is represented by the three status conditions“running,” “halted,” and “alarm sounding,” and in the event that thereis a change from the previous machine status, that machine status, thedate and time when that machine status started (date and time of thestart of that status)—that is, the date and time when the data wasacquired—and its program number (O number) are associated with eachother and stored in the operational data storage unit 12. Note that thisstorage process is not performed if there is no change in the machinestatus. In addition, the date and time of the start of that status isalso the date and time of the end of the previous machine status.

Next, a check is made as to whether or not the data pertaining toOperating State C that is stored in the operational data storage unit 12in this manner has reached 60 sets (Step S8), and if 60 sets have beenreached, the e-mail send flag is set to ON (Step S9), but if 60 setshave not been reached, control advances to Step S10. Step S8 is theprocess of determining whether or not to send e-mail, so when there aremore than 60 sets of data, this exceeds the memory capacity set in theoperational data storage unit 12 for Operating State C, so this 60 setsis used as the criterion for determining whether or not to perform thee-mail transmission.

In Step S10, the process of acquiring and storing the Machining Resultsdata illustrated in FIG. 10 is performed. That is to say, first a checkis made as to whether or not the NC machine tool 15 has started a newmachining operation (Step S51), and if it is not a new machiningoperation, control advances to Step S54, but if it is not a newmachining operation, the current date and time are stored in theoperational data storage unit 12 as the date and time of the start ofmachining (Step S52) and also the O number which is the number of the NCmachining program currently being executed is stored in the operationaldata storage unit 12 (Step S53). Note that the O number and the date andtime of the start of machining are stored in the operational datastorage unit 12 such that they are associated with each other.

When the processing of Step S53 ends, control next advances to Step S54,where a check is made as to whether or not the M signal that defines theend of machining (cycle end) has changed from OFF to ON. If it isconfirmed to have changed to ON, then the current date and time isstored in the operational data storage unit 12 as the date and time ofthe end of machining (Step S55).

Moreover, after the processing of Step S55 ends, or if the M signal isdetermined not to have changed from OFF to ON in Step S54, then thisprocess ends and control returns to the main process shown in FIG. 6 andadvances to Step S11.

In Step S11, a check is made as to whether or not the Machining Resultsdata that is stored in the operational data storage unit 12 in thismanner has reached 30 sets, and if 30 sets has been reached, the e-mailsend flag is set to ON (Step S12), but if 30 sets has not been reached,control advances to Step S13. Step S11 is the process of determiningwhether or not to send e-mail, so when there are more than 30 sets ofdata, this exceeds the memory capacity set in the operational datastorage unit 12 for Machining Results, so this 30 sets is used as thecriterion for determining whether or not to perform the e-mailtransmission.

Next, in Step S13, alarm information is acquired from the numericalcontroller 17, and a check is made as to whether or not the alarm thusacquired is a new alarm (Step S14), and if it is a new alarm, the alarminformation (date and time the alarm sounded (date and time when thedata was acquired), alarm number, alarm message and O number when thealarm sounded) thus acquired is stored in the operational data storageunit 12 (Step S15), and then the e-mail send flag is set to ON (StepS16). Moreover, after the processing of Step S16 ends, or if the alarmis determined to be continuing in Step S14, then control advances to thenext step, Step S17.

Next, in Step S17, a check is made as to whether the e-mail send flag isON or the manual e-mail send flag is ON, and if both the e-mail sendflag and the manual e-mail send flag are OFF, control advances to StepS4 and the subsequent processing is executed. On the other hand, ifeither the e-mail send flag or the manual e-mail send flag is ON, nextthe data pertaining to Operating State B (see FIG. 4) is acquired fromthe numerical controller 17 and stored in the operational data storageunit 12 (Step S18) and then the e-mail send process illustrated in FIG.11 is performed (Step S19).

Note that here, the manual e-mail send flag is a flag that is set to ONwhen the operator presses a “Send” switch provided on the screen, whichthe operator can do if he wishes to send the operational status data tothe administration device 20. The data stored in the operational datastorage unit 12 will disappear when the power of the NC machine tool 15is turned off, so that by pressing the “Send” switch before turning offthe power to the NC machine tool 15, it is possible to send the dataaccumulated since the previous send. This permits even more accurateoperational status administration to be performed.

The e-mail send process is executed in parallel with the processing inStep S20 and thereafter, and as shown in FIG. 11, first in Step S61, theprocess of automatically generating, based on the data stored in theoperational data storage unit 12, transmission data containingoperational status data in e-mail data format as shown in FIG. 13 isperformed.

This e-mail comprises a header portion made up of the e-mail addressesof the recipient and the sender and the like, and an e-mail bodyportion, where the body of the e-mail comprises tags (data elementidentifiers) that define fields pertaining to the operational status(see FIG. 12), along with operational status data corresponding to thesefields, in a format wherein the operational status data is writtenbetween pairs of corresponding tags.

To describe an example based on FIG. 13, the tag <M_MCNDTL> means thatdata pertaining to Operating States A and B follows the tag. Thus, thesubsequent alphabetic data is the values of the following variables inorder: cumulative power-on time, cumulative operating time, cumulativealarm sounding time, cumulative cutting time, cumulative spindlerotating time, cumulative manual mode time, cumulative coolant sprayingtime, machine status, O number for the machining in progress, sequencenumber, operating mode, signal block flag, optional stop flag, blockdelete flag, dry run flag, coolant ON flag, and rapid feed override. Theclosing tag </M_MCNDTL> means that data pertaining to Operating State Aand B precedes the tag.

Note that the tag definitions illustrated in FIG. 12 are merelyexamples; these examples in no way limit any further or more detaileddefinitions.

Once an e-mail message is generated automatically in this manner, aconnection to the Internet 5 is established and the process of sendingthe e-mail message thus generated to the specified mail server, ornamely the administration device 20 (Step S62) is performed. Note thatin this example, the e-mail message is sent via a router 13 to a mailserver 14 and then forwarded from this mail server 14 to a mail servercorresponding to the specified e-mail address, mail server 28 in thisexample.

Next, a check as to whether or not the mail send was successful is madeand if successful, the process ends (Step S63), but if the send failed,three attempts to resend are made (Step S64), and if the send was notsuccessful on all three tries, the process ends with the mail sendfailure flag set to ON (Step S65). Note that at the end of the process,the Internet 5 is disconnected and then the process is ended.

On the other hand, in Step S20, the operational data storage unit 12 isinitialized, the mail send flag and manual mail send flag are turned OFFand then, in the next step a check of the mail send failure flag isperformed to check as to whether or not the e-mail send process wassuccessful (Step S21), and in case of failure, some sort of trouble isdetermined to have occurred in communication, so a warning message tothat effect is displayed and the process of acquiring operational statusdata itself ends. If not, control returns to Step S4 shown on FIG. 5,and the process is repeated thereafter.

B. Administration Device

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the administration device 20 comprises: ae-mail receiving/data updating processor 21, operational status database22, registering/browsing processor (data transmission means) 23, Webdata storage unit 24 and ID data storage unit 25 connected via a bus 26,which is appropriately connected to the Internet 5 via a LAN or thelike.

The operational status database 22 is a functional unit that storesoperational status data sent from the operational datastorage/transmission devices 10, and is provided with data tables named“Operating State A,” “Operating State B,” “Operating State C,”“Machining Results,” “Alarm Log” and such as shown in FIG. 4 for each ofthe NC machine tools 15, and thus stores operational status datacorresponding to the various fields thereof. In addition, theoperational status database 22 stores the data tables in a manner thatthey are associated in advance with the e-mail address of the sender ofthe operational status data (namely, the user).

The e-mail receiving/data updating processor 21 sequentially executesthe process illustrated in FIG. 14 to receive e-mail sent from theoperational data storage/transmission devices 10 to mail server 28,analyze the e-mail thus received and update the operational status datafor that NC machine tool 15 in the data table corresponding to thee-mail address of the sender.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 14, it connects to the mail server 28(Step S71), and if the connection is successful, gets the mail from thismail server 28 and performs the process of deleting mail within the mailserver 28 (Step S73), and then analyzes the mail thus received and usesthe operational status data contained in this e-mail to update theoperational status data for that NC machine tool 15 (Step S74).

As described above, the body of the e-mail comprises tags that definethe fields pertaining to the operational status along with operationalstatus data corresponding to that field, in a format wherein theoperational status data is written between pairs of corresponding tags.Accordingly, it is possible to identify the fields pertaining to theoperational status and the operational status data corresponding theretoby recognizing the tags. The e-mail receiving/data updating processor 21analyzes these tags and recognizes the corresponding machine number,namely the NC machine tool 15, operational status fields and operationalstatus data and the like, and then updates the operational status datafor that NC machine tool 15 stored in the operational status database 22by arithmetic addition, appending, overwriting or other processes.

Then, once the process of updating data is performed as above, theprocedure waits until a preset predetermined amount of time has elapsed(Step S75), and then returns to Step S71 and repeats the process. Notethat in Step S72, even in the event that the connection to the mailserver 28 fails, the procedure similarly waits until the predeterminedamount of time has elapsed in Step S75 and then repeats the processstarting from Step S71.

The Web data storage unit 24 is a functional unit that stores in advancevarious data for sending various types of information via the Internet 5(in other words, data for creating Web pages).

An ID data storage unit 25 is a functional unit set up in advance foreach user who stores user ID information for identifying that user,along with machine tool data identifying the NC machine tools 15 beingused by that user, associated with the e-mail address of that user inthe form of a data table such as that shown in FIG. 15. Note that asshown in FIG. 15, a user ID and password are used as the user IDinformation in this example.

The registering/browsing processor 23 performs the so-calledregistration process of associating the ID information and e-mailaddress and the like, entered from the corresponding terminal device 30,of users who connect to the terminal device 30 via the Internet 5 to themachine tool data, and storing the data in the ID data storage unit 25,along with the process of creating Web pages containing requestedinformation pertaining to the operational status of the NC machine tools15 in correspondence with requests from the corresponding terminaldevice 30, and sending the Web pages thus created to the terminal device30, or namely the process of allowing information to be viewed from theterminal device 30.

Moreover, the viewing process is where the processes described below areperformed sequentially, so that Web pages pertaining to the operationalstatus are sent to the terminal device 30 and displayed on the monitorof the terminal device 30. That is to say, when there is an access fromthe terminal device 30 via the Internet 5 and a request to view theoperational status is received, first, an input form for user IDinformation stored in the Web data storage unit 24 is sent to theterminal device 30 and displayed.

Then, when user ID information (user ID and password) is input from theterminal device 30, it is received and a search is performed within theID data storage unit 25 based on this user ID information to checkwhether or not that user ID information is present (registered) in theID data storage unit 25.

If the user ID information is present, next the NC machine tools 15being used by the user are identified based on the machine tool datastored in the ID data storage unit 25 associated with that user IDinformation. In response to a request from the terminal device 30, basedon the operational status data stored in the operational status database22 for the NC machine tools 15 thus identified and the data stored inthe Web data storage unit 24, a Web page containing informationpertaining to the operational status of the requested NC machine tool 15is created and the Web page is sent to that terminal device 30 anddisplayed.

On the other hand, if the user ID information is not present in the IDdata storage unit 25, an error message to the effect that the user IDinformation is not registered (stored) is displayed on the terminaldevice 30.

Note that specific examples of such Web pages include one that allowsthe state of the machines to be checked at a glance (FIG. 16), one thatillustrates the operating state of various NC machine tools 15 as agraph (FIG. 17), one that presents the alarm log for the NC machinetools 15 as a list (FIG. 18), a Pareto chart of the frequency ofoccurrence of various alarms (FIG. 19) and other Web pages.

In addition, if the NC machine tools 15 are appropriately provided withvarious sensors, then data detected by these sensors pertaining tospindle vibration or temperature, for example, may also be sent to theadministration device 20 and stored, so Web pages containing this datamay also be displayed on the terminal device 30 in addition to the Webpages listed above.

With the operational administration system 1 according to thisembodiment constituted as described above, first, at each predeterminedsampling interval, the data gathering/transmission processors 11 of theoperational data storage/transmission devices 10 gather operationalstatus data for each of the corresponding NC machine tools 15 from thenumerical controllers 17 of the NC devices 16 and store the operationalstatus data thus gathered in the operational data storage unit 12.

After a predetermined amount of time has elapsed or the amount of dataaccumulated has reached a predetermined amount, or when manuallyrequested, the operational status data stored in the operational datastorage unit 12 is automatically organized into an e-mail message of astructure comprising tags that define fields that pertain to theoperational status that are associated with operational status datacorresponding to that field, and the e-mail message thus created is sentto the administration device 20 via mail servers 14 and 28.

The e-mail message thus sent is received by the administration device 20in its mail reception and the data update processor 21 which analyzes itand recognizes the mail address of the sender along with the tagged NCmachine tool 15, operational status fields, operational status data andother data, which is used to update the operational status data for therecognized NC machine tool 15 stored in the operational status database22 by arithmetic addition, appending, overwriting or other processes.

In this manner, the operational status data for the NC machine tools 15used by each user is sent from the operational data storage/transmissiondevices 10 to the administration device 20 provided on the side of themanufacturer and stored. Thereby, the manufacturer is able to determinethe operational status of the NC machine tools 15 of each user based onthe operational status data for each NC machine tool 15 stored in theoperational status database 22.

On the other hand, when the administration device 20 is accessed from aterminal device 30 and a request to view the operational status is made,the user ID information input from the terminal device 30 is received bythe registering/browsing processor 23 and first a check is made as towhether or not that user ID information is present in the ID datastorage unit 25.

Next, only if the user ID information is present, the NC machine tool 15used by that user is identified from the machine tool data that isstored associated with that user ID information, and based on theoperational status data stored in the operational status database 22 forthe identified NC machine tool 15 and the data stored in the Web datastorage unit 24, a Web page containing information pertaining to theoperational status of the requested NC machine tool 15 is generated andin accordance with a request from the terminal device 30, the Web pagethus generated is sent to the terminal device 30 and displayed on itsmonitor.

Thereby, each user is able to view information pertaining to theoperational status of their NC machine tools 15, and the informationthus displayed on the monitor can be printed with a printer or otherprinting device attached to the terminal device 30 as a peripheral.Thus, each user can determine the operational status of the NC machinetools 15 based on this information and can perform operationaladministration of the NC machine tools 15 based thereupon.

Thus, with the operational administration system 1 according to thisembodiment, the user can access the administration device 20 from theirterminal device 30 as necessary to view information relating to theoperational status of the NC machine tools 15, or namely the centralizedadministration of the operational status of each NC machine tool 15 ispossible through information obtained from the administration device 20,so it is not necessary for each user to have their own proprietaryadministration device, and thus the user's burden of the cost requiredto construct an operational administration system can be greatly reducedin comparison to the past, and also the labor and costs required for itsadministration can be reduced.

In addition, the user is able to access the administration device 20easily via the Internet 5 from anywhere and obtain operational statusdata from the administration device 20. In addition, operational statusdata can be obtained from the administration device 20 to determine eventhe operational status of NC machine tools 15 installed in factories inremote areas including overseas, so supervision can be performed easilyby the headquarters or other administrating departments.

On the other hand, the manufacturer can determine the operational statusof each of the NC machine tools 15 of each user in an accurate andtimely manner based on the operational status data stored in theadministration device 20, so the manufacturer is able to use theoperational status thus determined to establish maintenance schedulesfor the NC machine tools 15 and determine the situation of the loadsthereon, so the manufacturer is able to provide such maintenanceservices as suggesting the preventative replacement of parts, or gettingthe parts required for replacement ready in advance, and thus improvecustomer service with respect to the users.

In addition, the constitution is such that when a user obtainsoperational status data from the administration device 20, the user IDinformation is checked and the operational status of only those NCmachine tools 15 corresponding to the ID information can be obtained, soit is possible to prevent the operational status of the NC machine tools15 from being leaked to third parties other than the user.

In addition, the system has flexibility in that the operational statusdata gathered and stored by the operational data storage/transmissiondevice 10 can be sent from the operational data storage/transmissiondevice 10 to the administration device 20 by merely specifying thedestination address to which it is to be sent, regardless of where thesending operational data storage/transmission device 10 and thedestination administration device 20 are installed, and moreover datawith no time gaps can be sent to the administration device 20 side.

In addition, the e-mail sent from the operational datastorage/transmission devices 10 to the administration device 20 has astructure such that the fields pertaining to the operational status aremutually associated with the operational status data, so the operationalstatus data corresponding to the operational status fields can bereadily discerned, and thus the data updating in the e-mailreceiving/data updating processor 21 described above can be performedaccurately. In addition, the fields for which data is to be stored canbe easily added and changed.

In addition, the operational data storage/transmission devices 10connect to the Internet 5 only at the time of sending e-mail, so safetywith respect to unauthorized access and computer viruses can be greatlyimproved.

In addition, the operational status data stored in the operational datastorage unit 12 is automatically sent once a predetermined amount oftime has elapsed or when the amount of data accumulated has exceeded apredetermined amount, so it is possible to prevent data that should bestored in the operational data storage 12 means from being discarded dueto an overflow of its capacity, and thus this operational status datacan be made more accurate.

The above is a description of one embodiment of the present invention,but the specific mode of implementation of the present invention is inno way limited thereto.

For example, in the operational administration system 1, theadministration device 20 may comprise an administration device 40 thathas different functions, and similarly the terminal device 30 maycomprise a terminal device 50 that has different functions, asillustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 20. Here follows a description ofadministration device 40 and terminal device 50.

The administration device 40 comprises: the e-mail receiving/dataupdating processor 21, the operational status database 22, and aninformational-report generation/transmission processor 41 connected viathe bus 26, which is appropriately connected to the Internet 5 via a LANor the like.

Based on the operational status data for the NC machine tool 15 storedin the operational status database 22, the informational-reportgeneration/transmission processor 41 generates informational report thatsummarizes the operational status of the NC machine tools 15 within apredetermined period of time, and performs the process of sending theinformational report thus generated to the terminal device 50 as ane-mail attachment.

Specifically, the informational-report generation/transmission processor41 is constituted such that it checks to see if it is the preset time tostart processing (e.g., the beginning of the week or the beginning ofthe month), and then sequentially executes the process illustrated inFIG. 21. First, based on the operational status data for the NC machinetools 15 stored in the operational status database 22, informationalreport that summarizes the operational status of the NC machine tools 15over the predetermined time period (e.g., one week or one month) isautomatically generated (Step S81).

Note that specific examples of this informational report include, in thesame manner as the Web pages described above, one that illustrates theoperating state of various NC machine tools 15 as a graph as shown inFIG. 17, one that presents the alarm log for the NC machine tools 15 asa list as shown in FIG. 18, a Pareto chart of the frequency ofoccurrence of various alarms as shown in FIG. 19, as well as lists thatpresent the operating log of the various NC machine tools 15.

In addition, in this informational-report generation/transmissionprocess, such details as when the process is to be executed, the timeperiod over which the informational report is to be generated, which NCmachine tools 15 will be included in the informational report to begenerated, or what type of informational report is to be generated canbe preset as suitable for each user to match the needs of the user.

Accordingly, the administration device 40 is provided with anappropriate storage unit (not shown) that stores setting data such asthat given above along with the e-mail address of the user who is thedestination for the informational report, so the informational-reportgeneration/transmission processor 41 executes the generation andtransmission process based on the data stored in this storage unit.

Next, in Step S82, an e-mail message for sending the informationalreport generated in Step S81 is generated automatically. As above, thise-mail message comprises a header portion and an e-mail body portion,and the informational report is attached to this e-mail as a fileattachment.

Next, a connection to the Internet 5 is established and the e-mailmessage thus generated is sent to the specified mail server, or namelythe terminal device 50 (Step S83). Note that in this example, the e-mailmessage is first sent to mail server 28 and then forwarded from thismail server 28 to a mail server corresponding to the specified e-mailaddress, mail server 14 in this example.

Next, a check as to whether or not the mail send was successful is madeand if successful, control advances to Step S86 (Step S84), but if thesend failed, three attempts to resend are made (Step S85) and controladvances to Step S86. Then in Step S86, the results of the mail send areappropriately stored in the storage unit and then the Internet 5 isdisconnected and then the process is ended. Based on the send resultsthus stored, the manufacturer can determine whether or not theinformational report was sent to the side of the user without incident,and can ultimately take appropriate action in the event that the sendfailed.

The terminal device 50 (not shown) has a constitution comprising: a mailreception processor, a received data storage unit, a keyboard, a mouseor other input devices, a CRT or other display device, and a printer orother printing device.

The received data storage unit is a functional unit that stores e-mailsent from the administration device 40 and the mail reception processorperforms the process of receiving e-mail sent from the administrationdevice 40 and storing it in the received data storage unit.

Specifically, the mail reception processor is constituted such that itreceives input signals that are input appropriately from the inputdevice and starts a series of processes. First, it connects to the mailserver 14 and if the connection is successful, it gets the mail from themail server 14 and then performs the process of deleting mail within themail server 14, and thereafter stores the received mail in the receiveddata storage unit and ends this process.

On the other hand, if the connection to the mail server 14 failed, ittries to connect three times and if the connection was not successfulall three times, an error message to that effect is displayed on thescreen of the display device and this process is ended.

Moreover, the informational report attached to the e-mail message storedin the received data storage unit may be displayed on the screen of thedisplay device or output from the printer in response to input from theinput device.

With the operational administration system provided with anadministration device 40 and terminal device 50 constituted as describedabove, the operational status data for the NC machine tools 15 isgathered and stored by the operational data storage/transmission devices10, and sent to the administration device 40 when the predeterminedtransmission conditions are met. Then, the operational status datastored in the operational status database 22 is updated by the e-mailreceiving/data updating processor 21 of the administration device 40.

Moreover, based on the operation situation data for the NC machine tools15 stored in the operational status database 22, theinformational-report generation/transmission processor 41 regularly orirregularly generates informational report that summarizes theoperational status of the various NC machine tools 15 within apredetermined time period, and sends the informational report thusgenerated as an e-mail attachment via the mail servers 28 and 14 to theterminal device 50.

The e-mail message thus sent is received by the mail reception processorof the terminal device 50 and stored in the received data storage unit.Moreover, the informational report attached to the e-mail message storedin the received data storage unit may be displayed on the screen of adisplay device or output from a printer.

Thereby, each user can determine the operational status of each NCmachine tool 15 based on the informational report that is automaticallycompiled and sent by the administration device 40, and can administratethis information centrally, so the same meritorious effects as above canbe obtained. In addition, in order to determine the operational statusfor each machine tool 15, there is no need for the users themselves tocreate informational report as is conventionally required, so this ismore efficient.

In addition, the informational report generated by the administrationdevice 40 can be sent from this administration device 40 to the terminaldevice 50 regardless of where the administration device 40 and terminaldevice 50 are installed. In addition, the administration device 40 isconstituted such that it connects to the Internet 5 only at the time ofsending e-mail, so safety with respect to unauthorized access andcomputer viruses can be greatly improved.

In addition, the embodiment above presented an example of sending theoperational status data and informational report as e-mail via the mailservers 14 and 28, but the present invention is in no way limitedthereto, but rather FTP (File Transfer Protocol), TFTP (Trivial FTP) orHTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) or other file transfer means mayalso be used.

In addition, in the embodiments above, the operational datastorage/transmission devices 10 are provided separate from the NC device16, but this is not a limitation, as functions equivalent to theoperational data storage/transmission devices 10 may also beincorporated within the NC device 16 as a unit.

In addition, the configuration is such that operational datastorage/transmission devices 10 are provided on a one-to-one basis withthe NC device 16, but this is not a limitation, as the respective NCdevices 16 of a plurality of NC machine tools 15 may also be connectedto one single operational data storage/transmission device 10.

In addition, each of the administration devices 20 and 40 may comprise aplurality of computers, with one data-storage computer used exclusivelyfor receiving and storing data from the operational datastorage/transmission devices 10, and another data-sending computer usedexclusively for receiving requests from the terminal device 30 andsending the requested data to the terminal device 30 or generatinginformational report and sending it to the terminal device 50.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, the operational administration system according tothe present invention is suitable for use in administrating theoperational status of NC machine tools.

1. An operational administration system furnished with one or moreoperational data storage/transmission devices connected to each ofnumerical controllers for one or more machine tools furnished with thenumerical controllers, a terminal device provided where users use themachine tools, and an administration device provided where amanufacturer manufactures the machine tools, said administration device,said operational data storage/transmission devices, and said terminaldevice being provided to enable connection to one another via theInternet; wherein: said operational data storage/transmission devicescomprise operational data storage means for storing data pertaining tooperational status of the machine tools, and data gathering/transmissionmeans for gathering from the numerical controllers data pertaining tothe operational status of the machine tools, storing the data in saidoperational data storage means, and for checking whether a presettransmission condition is met, and only in instances in which thetransmission condition is met, sending to said administration device inan e-mail data format the machine-tool operational status data stored insaid operational data storage means; and said administration devicecomprises a database for storing machine-tool operational status datareceived from the operational data storage/transmission devices, datareceiving/updating means for receiving machine-tool operational statusdata sent from said operational data storage/transmission devices, andrespectively updating, with the operational status data received, thedatabase-stored operational status data on each machine tool, ID datastorage means for storing user ID information preestablished for each ofthe users in order to identify the users, correlatively with machinetool data for identifying the machine tools used by the users, and datatransmission means, being a processor for transmitting to the terminaldevice operational status data stored in said database, for receivinguser ID information entered through said terminal device, and forsearching said ID data storage means based on the received user-IDinformation, checking whether the received user-ID information is storedin said ID data storage means, and only in instances in which thereceived user-ID information is stored, sending, in response to requestsfrom said terminal device, to the requesting terminal device theoperational status data for the machine tools identified by the machinetool data stored in said ID data storage means correlatively with thereceived user-ID information.
 2. An operational administration systemfurnished with one or more operational data storage/transmission devicesconnected to each of numerical controllers for one or more machine toolsfurnished with the numerical controllers, a terminal device providedwhere users use the machine tools, and an administration device providedwhere a manufacturer manufactures the machine tools, said administrationdevice, said operational data storage/transmission devices, and saidterminal device being provided to enable connection to one another viathe Internet; wherein: said operational data storage/transmissiondevices comprise operational data storage means for storing datapertaining to operational status of the machine tools, and datagathering/transmission means for gathering from the numericalcontrollers data pertaining to the operational status of the machinetools, storing the data in said operational data storage means, and forchecking whether a preset transmission condition is met, and only ininstances in which the transmission condition is met, based on themachine-tool operational status data stored in the operational datastorage means, generating transmission data of a structure in which dataelement identifiers defining items involving the operational status ofthe machine tools are correlated with the operational status datacorresponding to the items, and sending to said administration devicethe generated transmission data; and said administration devicecomprises a database for storing machine-tool operational status datareceived from the operational data storage/transmission devices, datareceiving/updating means for receiving the transmission data sent fromsaid operational data storage/transmission devices, and for analyzingthe data element identifiers in the received transmission data,recognizing the items involving the machine-tool operational statusesdefined by the data element identifiers, and respectively updating, withthe operational status data received, the operational status data, beingdatabase-stored data on each machine tool, corresponding to therecognized items, ID data storage means for storing user ID informationpreestablished for each of the users in order to identify the users,correlatively with machine tool data for identifying the machine toolsused by the users, and data transmission means, being a processor fortransmitting to the terminal device operational status data stored insaid database, for receiving user ID information entered through saidterminal device, and for searching said ID data storage means based onthe received user-ID information, checking whether the received user-IDinformation is stored in said ID data storage means, and only ininstances in which the received user-ID information is stored, sending,in response to requests from said terminal device, to the requestingterminal device the operational status data for the machine toolsidentified by the machine tool data stored in said ID data storage meanscorrelatively with the received user-ID information.
 3. An operationaladministration system furnished with one or more operational datastorage/transmission devices connected to each of numerical controllersfor one or more machine tools furnished with the numerical controllers,a terminal device provided where users use the machine tools, and anadministration device provided for manufacturers who manufacture themachine tools, said administration device, said operational datastorage/transmission devices, and said terminal device being provided toenable connection to one another via the Internet; wherein: saidoperational data storage/transmission devices comprise operational datastorage means for storing data pertaining to operational status of themachine tools, and data gathering/transmission means for gathering fromthe numerical controllers data pertaining to the operational status ofthe machine tools, storing the data in said operational data storagemeans, and for checking whether a preset transmission condition is met,and only in instances in which the transmission condition is met,sending to said administration device in an e-mail data format themachine-tool operational status data stored in said operational datastorage means; and said administration device comprises a database forstoring machine-tool operational status data received from theoperational data storage/transmission devices, data receiving/updatingmeans for receiving machine-tool operational status data sent from saidoperational data storage/transmission devices, and respectivelyupdating, with the operational status data received, the database-storedoperational status data on each machine tool, and informational-reportgeneration/transmission means for generating, based on the machine-tooloperational status data stored in said database, informational reports,at fixed or unfixed intervals, compiling the machine-tool operationalstatuses during a predetermined term, and sending to said terminaldevice the generated informational reports; wherein said terminal deviceare configured to receive the informational reports sent from saidadministration device, and to store the received informational reports.4. An operational administration system furnished with one or moreoperational data storage/transmission devices connected to each ofnumerical controllers for one or more machine tools furnished with thenumerical controllers, a terminal device provided where users use themachine tools, and an administration device provided where amanufacturer manufactures the machine tools, said administration device,said operational data storage/transmission devices, and said terminaldevice being provided to enable connection to one another via theInternet; wherein: said operational data storage/transmission devicescomprise operational data storage means for storing data pertaining tooperational status of the machine tools, and data gathering/transmissionmeans for gathering from the numerical controllers data pertaining tothe operational status of the machine tools, storing the data in saidoperational data storage means, and for checking whether a presettransmission condition is met, and only in instances in which thetransmission condition is met, based on the machine-tool operationalstatus data stored in the operational data storage means, generatingtransmission data of a structure in which data element identifiersdefining items involving the operational status of the machine tools arecorrelated with the operational status data corresponding to the items,and sending to said administration device the generated transmissiondata; and said administration device comprises a database for storingmachine-tool operational status data received from the operational datastorage/transmission devices, data receiving/updating means forreceiving the transmission data sent from said operational datastorage/transmission devices, and for analyzing the data elementidentifiers in the received transmission data, recognizing the itemsinvolving the machine-tool operational statuses defined by the dataelement identifiers, and respectively updating, with the operationalstatus data received, the operational status data, being database-storeddata on each machine tool, corresponding to the recognized items, andinformational-report generation/transmission means for generating, basedon the machine-tool operational status data stored in said database,informational reports, at fixed or unfixed intervals, compiling themachine-tool operational statuses during a predetermined term, andsending to said terminal device the generated informational reports;wherein said terminal device are configured to receive the informationalreports sent from said administration device, and to store the receivedinformational reports.
 5. An operational administration system accordingto claim 3 or claim 4, wherein said informational-reportgeneration/transmission means is configured to attach the generatedinformational reports to e-mail and send to said terminal device thee-mail with the reports attached.
 6. An operational administrationsystem according to any of claims 1 through 4, wherein said datagathering/transmission means is configured so that only when sending theoperational status data stored in said operational data storage means,said data gathering/transmission means connects to the Internet andsends the operational status data to said administration device, andafter the transmission is complete, disconnects from the Internet.
 7. Anoperational administration system according to any of claims 1 through4, wherein: said transmission condition is a parameter set with respectto the volume of data stored in said operational data storage means; andsaid data gathering/transmission means is configured to compare thevolume of data stored in said operational data storage means with areference data volume as the transmission condition, and when the storeddata volume has reached the reference data volume, send to saidadministration device the operational status data stored in saidoperational data storage means.
 8. An operational administration systemaccording to any of claims 1 through 4, wherein: said transmissioncondition is a parameter set with respect to the time period that thedata gathering requires; and said data gathering/transmission means isconfigured to compare the time period required for the data gatheringwith a reference time period as the transmission condition, and when thedata-gathering time period has exceeded the reference time period, sendto said administration device the operational status data stored in saidoperational data storage means.